There is so much to talk about and I only have a couple paragraphs. Dang… Today we visited two farms near Santiago and heard some amazing stories of God’s provision and faithfulness. Ruben, one of the farmers and a former Franciscan monk, explained how he lives a life of simplicity detached from abundance. One particular thing he said while telling his story that many people did and will remember is that “luxury is food for the poor.” His story convicted me and many others to live a life of simplicity. This does not mean to sell everything and become a missionary, although it may. But, in a more practical manner, we should love God and use what we are and what we have in obedience to God. For, as Samuel says in 1 Samuel 15:22, “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,” and Jesus says in Matthew 22:37 that the great commandment is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” By the way, I’m really good (or bad?) at run-on sentences.
As a brief summary of the awesomeness of this trip, here are a couple pretty cool things. First, our group, consisting of 23 students, united incredibly quickly sharing a strong community and having a solid team mentality. The Lord proved His faithfulness over and over again, answering prayers and moving with and through our team. Thank you everyone for praying for and supporting us. God is and will forever be faithful.
-Alex Griffith
On Sunday afternoon, our fifth full day here, the three of us experienced first-hand the equality we share as brothers and sisters in Christ. But when we woke up that morning, the three of us (including many others) were really sick with stomach problems. After church and after lunch we re-visited Chichigua even though we were still feeling under the weather. There we were touched by an older woman named Maria. Norma was super excited because she noticed that her and Maria were wearing the exact same shoes…crocs. After talking to her for a while, Maria asked her why she wasn’t playing soccer with the rest of the group. So Norma explained that she and Kristine weren’t feeling well, but that I was feeling worse. Maria immediately insisted on taking the three of us to their church to pray. By church we mean tool shed. They sat me down on a chair, put their hands over me and Maria prayed in Creole, the Haitian native language. After praying for me, we sat Maria down and all prayed out loud simultaneously. It was an amazing experience. We walked out of there with the biggest smiles on our faces. It’s crazy how we thought we were going there to pray over them, and ended up having Maria pray over us. It’s also assuring on how great our God is, that people from all tribes and nations declare Christ as their savior. As Revelations 7: 9-10 says, “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.””
-Aaron Hayslip, Kristine Allcott & Norma Saldivar
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